(The Transformation of Lehigh County from its historic agricultural roots to that spiraling urbanization as part of the Megalopolis )

By Dennis L. Pearson

(c) 2009 by Dennis L. Pearson --- All Rights Reserved --- No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording or by any informationstorage or retrieval system, without permission from the author

Part One

INSTALLMENT ONE

The Lehigh-Northampton County Airport Authority has met opposition to the Authority's ABE Airport Master Plan to expand the runways at Allentown- Bethlehem-Easton airport to better deal with the future.

The Joint Planning Commission Lehigh-Northampton Counties in its Comprehensive Plan for Lehigh & Northampton Counties --- The Lehigh Valley of August 1992 states the following:

"Enplanements at ABE have increased over eightfold since 1986. The Airport Authority has prepared a master plan to deal with future growth. The plan assumes that, at a minimum, the current level of airline service will remain at the ABE Airport during the 20-year planning period of 1989 - 2009. Passengeractivity is projected to grow significantly. Enplanements are expected toincrease from 437,581 in 1930 to over 1,000,000 in 2009. Most of the increased passenger activity in the 1990s will be accommodated by the emerging larger narrow-body aircraft fleet rather than an increased number of flights, according to the master plan."

The ABE Airport was the starting and ending point of an adventure that took me to Washington D.C.; Huntsville, Alabama; Dallas, Texas; Seattle, Washington;Anchorage, Alaska; Dinali National Park; Fairbanks, Alaska; back to Anchorage, Alaska; Steward, Alaska, Valdez, Alaska, Sitka, Alaska, Juneau, Alaska, but definitely not Ketchikan, Alaska; Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, back toSeattle, Washington; Atlanta, Georgia; back to Huntsville, Alabama; Chicago, Illinois; and finally back to Allentown, Pennsylvania... From the air I saw mountain chains such as the Appalachians and the Rockies, Rivers such as theNew, the Red and the mighty Mississippi (and yes, it was arising); unexpectingly, I also saw the venerable Wrigley Field through a small peephole In the clouds.

*** *** ***

For the Lehigh Valley, the arrival of larger narrow-body aircraft may be regarded as a technological advancement. However, a report released last April 1992 to the Arizona legislature and the State's Governor by the Arizona Space Commission cited the need to "initiate development of (a) commercial spacelaunch facility and associated support resources.

Says the report: "The new spaceships such as the proposed McDonnell Douglas Delta Clipper will be built and operated like Ocean Ships or Airliners."

We ask, will there ever be enough support in the Lehigh Valley to establish a spaceport?

Also we ask, Will we satisfy the five prerequisites identified by the Arizona Space Commission to handle such vehicles?

... Proximity to other transportation nodes --- high speed railways, extended and improved highways and airports;

... Proximity to existing natural gas as a source of hydrogen, which can be processed into liquid hydrogen rocket fuel; and,

... Proximity to a high-capacity electric power grid.

Most likely, the first spaceport built will be placed where the spaceships are assembled. Therefore, if the Lehigh Valley meets the five prerequisites outlined, our politicians should move quickly and aggressively to get McDonnell Douglasand other potential spaceship builders to locate their plants in Pennsylvania if not the Lehigh Valley.

*** *** ***

How long, O people of Allentown, the Lehigh County and the Lehigh Valley region have we spoken to you unanswered.

We present the truth, but you do not seemingly comprehend. Or should we say more accurately, you don't want to comprehend or know the truth.

Why did you allow such people of possible weak wisdom and foresight to manipulate your futures? Whether these people be representatives of government or government associated special interest groups.

They showed you no justice. They only wanted to outwit you and divide you to obtain their secret and unknown end, and there was work afoot these past forty years which you will not believe (or will find difficult to comprehend) when it is told to you.

What we saw was planned or unanticipated destruction of the character of the Lehigh Valley's landscape from largely rural to urban sprawl in the name of an ideal called Megalopolis.

A Megalopolis, of course, is a thickly populated region centering in a metropolis or embracing several metropolises. And, clearly, the communities of the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area fit thatdefinition. Statistically, the A-B-E Standard Metropolitan Area was having a population of approximately 640,000 in 1980. This vital statistic was representing the third largest concentration of population in the Commonwealthof Pennsylvania and 62nd nationally.

*** Ask not what you can do for the people, but what you can do for the party.***

I have heard an Allentown Council person make comment in 1982 on an upcoming state electoral contest. That person suggested that such and such a person ought to be supported by the party for the good that person will do forthe party. I ask the following question: Did that elected official consider the far more important fact of what good that person's election would do for the people of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania?

It is our opinion that in this democratic society, the people can not allow the interests of political party or special interest coalitions --- that is, their pursuit to gain or perpetuate power and influence --- to supersede the well-being andneeds of the people. The basic needs of people being food shelter opportunity and hope.

It is a given that political parties play an important role in our electoral process. That political parties expect their members on elective bodies to speak in one voice on certain issues. We only ask that the political parties disassociate themselves from the concepts, influences, contacts and drives that havechanged the character of the Lehigh Valley, (or the "Little Apple" if you will). Perhaps, to its future year detriment.

We are concerned that this drive for economic transformation, community metamorphosis and social reorganization may be too costly to achieve in terms of both moral and monetary values.

And more important, it may be too costly in terms of the loss of freedom of choice. Wake up O people of Allentown, the Lehigh County and the Lehigh Valley region before you lose your freedom. Freedom is such a valuablecommodity to allow it to disappear through the blind and unthinkable acceptance of the purveyors of double-talk, confusion, and appeared naiveté. Watch out for those who are hungry for power for power's sake. Watch out for those who seek to control the Media whether it be electronic or newsprint.Watch out for those who treat concerned citizens badly and above all, watch out for the utilities and their secret servants within government. Because, all these people will not reveal or fully comprehend the truth or consequences as to what happened to the Lehigh Valley these forty or so years. And very upsetting too is the realization that we can no longer depend on the media whether printed or electronic to present the total story.

*** *** ***

I ask - was it meant to be or did it occur by accident or evolution that the fastest growing job areas in the Lehigh Valley resultant from the forty years of economic growth activity occur in warehousing, materials handling, inventorymanagement, and transportation?

Please note --- Lehigh County economic development leaders are very delighted that Nestle Corporation of Switzerland has established a huge warehousing operation in what remains of the alfalfa, corn and wheat fields of Western Lehigh County and also, that Perrier Water of Switzerland and CocaCola Bottling Company of Atlanta, Georgia have followed suit ... Unfortunately, these same Lehigh County economic development leaders know that the alleged benefits from this type of development will be sustained for an unknowntime period before the negatives again emerge.

Said a farmer's wife to the farmer: " Look it here Elmer, I read the other day that Perrier plans to build a plant right here in the Lehigh Valley. Responded Elmer: "Lizzy, the non traditional farmer that sold the land to Perrier made a bundle on the deal.... Personally, I always wanted to taste that special imported mountain mineral water found in the Grocery Store ... But, it doesn't come cheap." Interrupted their son Butch: " Seems to me dad, if Perrier bottles their waterright here, you might already have drunk it from your well.... Do you actually think that Perrier will transport and bottle that mountain mineral stuff here? . I wonder what effect in the long-term this water mining will have on the watertable... " Responded Elmer: " Shut up son and drink your taste of life ... Interrupted Lizzy: "Besides son, that's Allentown's problem." ... And so it is in the worse case scenario! That is, Allentown’s prime sources of water, the LittleLehigh Creek and Schantz's Spring, might be made less reliable by over-mining of the water basin from which these vital Allentown 'water sources are fed.

Harry Forker has said for years that water withdrawals from the basin can best be controlled by regionalization of water service ... He has also said that Allentown's water sources are plentiful for now and the foreseeable future with proper conservation. Harry noted too, that the planned discharge of treated wastewater into the Lehigh River at Northampton Pennsylvania by Ponderosa Fibers and other companion plants could pose problems at Allentown's designated alternate water source of the future, the Lehigh River... Well now, we do have a problem down in Allentown, don't we.?...

The phone rings in the office of the mayor in Allentown. The Lehigh County Authority (LCA) is making the call ... Said the LCA operative, may we tap some of your water from Schantz's Spring ... Said the Mayor: "I can't do that. Somepeople may protest." ... Said the LCA operative: "Don't worry about those activists, most of your citizens want to move out of town anyway and many of them would rather drink Perrier Water then City water ... Besides, I heard that your training your firemen to be Off-Track Betting (OTB) tellers and ticket takers for your Lights in the Park Display in Lehigh Parkway." Said the mayor: " I have a good fire sale on City Parks also."

*** *** ***

**** Leaping from infancy to adulthood without being able to afford the luxury of casual youth****

Genevieve Blatt, the Pennsylvania Secretary of Internal Affairs in the George Leader Administration (1955-1958), attended a historic gathering of Lehigh Valley political subdivision representatives and leaders at the former SouthMountain Junior High School in Allentown October 7, 1957 and left the call for "political subdivisions to contract with neighboring communities to achieve municipal services they might not otherwise be able to afford or which can be achieved more logically on an area basis."

Secretary Blatt liked Metropolitan area growth in the United States to the human life. She said:

" We're now suffering the same growing pains that at the same time depressed us and exhilarated us as individuals in our adolescence... Adolescence goes hand in hand with boundless energy, limitless imagination, chronic optimism,and in some instances a bit of naiveté that comes from lack of experience."

In final analysis, Secretary Blatt maintained that our communities were leaping from infancy to adulthood without being able to afford the luxury of casual youth.

*** A historical analysis***

Of course, from our prospective we have the advantage of historical retrospective, but four thoughts are evoked from Secretary Blatt's remarks:

First --- this visit was either the source or excuse for the creation of the Industrial Development Corporation of Lehigh County (IDC).

Second --- this visit was either the source or excuse for the creation of the Joint Planning Commission, Lehigh-Northampton Counties (JPC)

Third --- this visit was either the source or excuse for the creation of a possible metropolitan Area Wastewater Treatment District comprising Allentown and its surrounding communities.

And lastly --- the thought has occurred to us that this sudden rush of the Lehigh Valley from infancy to adolescence to premature adulthood could lead to a traumatic decline into maturity and senility in rapid succession if the destructionof moral considerations resultant from uncontrolled and mismanaged economic development became too severe to be corrected within acceptable monetary limits.

**** Lonely candle-like building protruding upward into the sky like a beacon for transformation****

During the mid to late fifties the Lehigh Valley was predominately agricultural in both orientation and thought. The then existing industrial complex beingprimarily concentrated in the cities (that is, Allentown, Bethlehem, and Easton in Pennsylvania and Phillipsburg in New Jersey) and a few other suburban communities. We note the heart of this four county Industrial complex being theBethlehem Steel Corporation, New Jersey Zinc Company, Ingersoll-Rand, Mack Trucks, Air Products & Chemicals, Lehigh Portland and Western Electric which transformed into Lucent Technologies after its spin off from AT & T Technologies .Lucent Technologies again after division becoming Agere Technologies before selling it self off to LIS. The final act for this litany of change after the government enforced break-up of the Telephone and Communication was for LIS to shut down Allentown's biggest water user completely.

The life of a farmer is a rough but meaningful way of life. But in the same mid to late fifties period, attitudes developed that sought community wealth from economic activities other than agriculture. An adherent of the new thinking would assert that the fertile land resources outside the city stood undeveloped,only producing marginal wealth for the communities in which said land resource was located by virtue of existing land use. Ultimately, it would be the mission of these same forces to transform the land into uses that would produce greater wealth, but we can not automatically assume that suchtransformation in land use or economic activity would necessarily produce a greater benefit to society; Therefore, we do suggest that to achieve their secret or implied purposes these said adherents for urban development would attemptto educate the public and public officials as to the value of economic development activity in areas that historically were agricultural in both orientation and thought.

Since August 1981 the Common Sense Herald has stood tall in reporting the story. But in 1996 a colleague wondered if he could say anything new and profound about the events that have occurred and consequences that followed.

He also wondered whether the Common Sense Herald was the proper vehicle in the age of electronic mail and the Internet to tell the story. This is due to the fact that matters in the Lehigh Valley are now effected by outside forces, which arebeyond the control of local officials on the city and county level, and by trends being set by these outside forces, including the national and international economies.

In the Lehigh Valley, part of the story, of course, is that we are using up too much valuable farmland in order to pursue our economic development goals ... And, land developers wait like vultures to devour the carcasses of former farms....

*** *** **

In the same mid to late fifties period there stood a lonely candle-like building protruding upward into the sky like a beacon for progress. This was the corporate headquarters for the Pennsylvania Power and Light Company located at 9th & Hamilton Streets in downtown Allentown. It stood tall, easy tosee day or night, in an empty and seemingly undeveloped land that could not comprehend or visualize that the P.P. & L would become a very strong advocate or ally for planned industrial development activities that would forever change the long-term economic usage of land resources that can be bestdescribed as sacred and irreplaceable.

In analysis, from the profit-motive standpoint, it was very logical for the electric utility to become an advocate for planned industrial, commercial and residential development. Why? The P.P. & L's own financial welfare and growth woulddepend upon the transformation of then existing agricultural and vacant land into units that required its service and importantly, traditional family type agriculture does not necessarily require such dependence.

The family type farming operations of a religious sect known as the Amish concentrated near the Pennsylvania farming communities of Kutztown and Lancaster clearly demonstrate the above point. The Amish by religious doctrine has traditionally shunned the use of most if not all-20th century conveniences in their farming operations but remarkably are able to produce above average yields in their fields.

Simply stated, whether individuals within the P.P. & L were the authors, the disciples, the instigators, the planners, the architects, or the draftsmen of enhanced transformation activities, the historic fact is that corporate leaders ofP.P. & L in the mid to late fifties understood that such activities would increase customer demand for electric service within the P.P. & L's service area. Consequently, corporate leaders informed corporate stockholders that additional power capacity had to be furnished to meet the future requirementsof new residential, industrial and commercial customers. And with this investment in capital and resources, the P.P. & L had a vested interest in offering its expertise to those adherents for enhanced urban development whose implied and secret purpose was to educate both the public and government officials as to the benefits that would be derived from economic development activities in areas that were historically agricultural both in orientation and thought.

And the same can be said of electric utilities such as Philadelphia Electric Company (PECO) and Metropolitan Edison - Pennsylvania Electric Companies in their sphere of influence.

*** *** ***

*** A community can be stable and grow and expand in wealth only by mining, manufacturing and processing to sell**

Most interestingly, the same October 7, 1957 regional planning meeting attended by Genevieve Blatt and sponsored by the Tri-City Conference, an association comprising public officials of Allentown-Bethlehem- and Easton, would provide opportunity for P.P.&L to state its vested viewpoint.

Ralph C. Swartz, Vice President for Commercial operations for the Pennsylvania Power & Light Company, was chosen for this task.

Mr. Swartz demonstrated that a community could be stable, can grow and expand in wealth only "by mining manufacturing, and processing commodities to sell." Hence, the wealth of a community depended upon its industry.

In addition, Mr. Swartz maintained that industry checking a site for location or expansion looks for a desirable industrial climate, good labor markets, reasonable tax rates, plus good schools, churches, residential areas and recreational and cultural facilities. But what Mr. Swartz stressed most was thatindustry wanted to be accepted not just by public officials but by the public a swell. He said: "The attitude of the public reflects on its public officials and healthy relationships results."

Mr. Swartz was successful in fueling the movement toward his company's desired ends that evening for the representatives of the twenty-three communities that attended that staged event went back to their communities and the enhanced transformation of the Lehigh Valley had begun.

*** *** ***

For Years the Lehigh Valley Council for Regional Livability Vice President Harry Forker and the writers of the Lehigh Valley Common Sense Herald have tried to call attention to the degraded state of the Little Lehigh Creek, Allentown's majordrinking water source. Finally the Wildlands Conservancy got around to noticing and has completed a two-year $25,000 study telling us what we already knew, or part of what we already knew: that the stream is being "mistreated"(Morning Call, March 29, 1994. "Little Lehigh Creek Troubled," p. A1). The report's conclusion is false; it says the stream's health is "generally good." It's not; the Little Leigh’s health is generally bad, if not worse. The report shows thekind of thinking that led to the decline of the Little Lehigh in the first place.

Beyond that, the Conservancy is largely made up of people who benefited from using the stream as a storm sewer for decades. The Call article says the trout in the Little Lehigh are the Conservancy's "canaries in the coal mine," but yearsbefore the fish started to decline, the real "canaries" were the spring tadpoles that once flourished in the waters, along with water skimmers, crawfish and minnows, all vanished over the past 40 years under the impact of unbridled suburban development on the watershed. The Conservancy reportrecommends curbing erosion and sedimentation "by letting trees, grass and other vegetation" proliferate along the water's edge; maybe they could use the grass that's grown up under the Conservancy's feet all these years the LittleLehigh was turning into a toilet. Jennifer Robinson, the Conservancy's director of research who headed the study, claimed "we don't have a good gauge of what the stream used to be like in certain areas." Yes you do; his name wasHarry Forker. He could tell you all you want or need to know about the Little Lehigh and a lot of other streams. If you've never talked to Harry, you're starting from the wrong baseline and its now too late.

*** *** ***

Planned industrial development "arrived" October 7, 1957 in the Lehigh County as the City of Allentown neared its 200th year (1962). There were some that said Allentown lagged in industrial growth. There were others who looked to othercities and the cited the results of development elsewhere. Then too, there were still others who argued that Allentown's economy was strong enough but that it was better to act from strength than from weakness. In any case, whatever thereason, Allentown and Lehigh County jointly turned to the Industrial Development Corporation of Lehigh County (IDC) to build upon an already diversified economy and make it stronger with the addition of new industry.

Organized October 7, 1957, the IDC emerged as a potent force in the late 1950's as steel employment in neighboring Bethlehem lagged due to recession and labor difficulties. Under Presidents Ralph C. Swartz and I. Cyrus Gutman, theIDC added its first professional, Executive Director John W. Trauch, a Red Hill native and former industrial development associate for the Pennsylvania Power and Light Company and the Pennsylvania State Department of Commerce. TheIDC, we note, being the brainchild of the Allentown Chamber of Commerce.

INSTALLMENT TWO

*** LAST DAYS OF THE LITTLE LEHIGH***

The Little Lehigh Creek is the main drinking water source for the City of Allentown, but you'd never know it from the way it's been mistreated over the years. That mistreatment continues as this was written.

Mistreatment of the Little Lehigh has almost been the policy of the municipalities through which it runs, notably Macungie, Salisbury and, last but not least, Allentown itself. "Mistreated" was in fact the word used in a 1994 WildlandsConservancy report on the state of the Little Lehigh, although the Conservancy itself has been able to do precious little about the unbridled suburban development that has been allowed to overwhelm the quality of the creek's waters.

The ink was hardly dry on the Conservancy report before the latest examples of the factors that contributed to the Little Leigh’s decline and eventual demise were uncorked in the form of new luxury housing proposals along the creekand a tributary, Little Cedar Creek. Deer Run, a development of 12 multi-acre lots in Salisbury Township adjacent to the Fish Hatchery in Little Lehigh Parkway, covers a major portion of the land between Fish Hatchery Road on the North,Briarwood Road on the south, Keystone Road on the east and Cedar Crest Boulevard on the west. This development was approved by Salisbury Township in December 1993 with little fanfare from the Morning Call, although the development lies on the watershed uphill from the Little Lehigh, and drainagefrom lawns, interior streets and driveways could affect a spring that drains into the Little Lehigh and the Little Lehigh itself. Nitrates that leach from fertilized lawns were just part of the pollutants cited in the conservancy report.

Fishermen concerned about the effects of this development on the quality of fly- fishing and on the Fish Hatchery itself at first assumed that a strip of parkland presently running between Keystone Road and the wooded, brush-coveredhillside from Fish Hatchery to Briarwood Road might serve as a buffer to absorb runoff. Examination of the development site plan however showed that this "buffer" was within the development and covered by at least two of the lots.Curiously, however, inquiries of city park workers revealed that the strip had been maintained for years by the Parks department. A similar instance of City workers maintaining apparently private property came to light several years agowhen City Development Director Donald Bernhard declared that a lot at the corner of 15th Street and Martin Luther King Boulevard,was maintained by City workers as part of Little Lehigh Parkway for years, was actually privateproperty. No one seems to know the boundaries of the park or City in the area of the Little Lehigh.

On April 28, 1994 Harry Forker, an LVCRL vice president and inveterate flyfisherman, was accompanied by a brace of fellow fishermen to a session of the Salisbury Township Board of Commissioners to air his concerns about the development impact on the Little Lehigh and the Fish Hatchery, alreadyoverburdened by storm water runoff from existing office park development on the watershed above the hatchery. Workers reported that runoff sometimes ran a foot deep across the Fish Hatchery parking lot after a thunderstorm.

Forker spoke for the better part of a half an hour while the township commissioners listened respectfully. A companion also commented. This, after all, was a major development that could contribute to the further decline of a valuable fishery and a major drinking water source if proper safeguards weren'tensured by the township to protect the interests of both Salisbury and Allentown.

Even so, the next day The Morning Call ran a small (but bylined) story on the meeting headlined "Salisbury Eliminates parking on Gaskill." In addition to hearing Forker's testimony on the Little Lehigh, the commissioners had voted toban parking on a street named Gaskill Avenue. However, there wasn't a word about Forker's presentation on the potential dangers to the Little Lehigh; and, certainly there was nothing on the reaction from the commissioners.

So much for the dedicated efforts of a public-spirited citizen. So much for the purposes of public meetings. So much for the fate of the Little Lehigh, which has attracted little enough concern from the public --- and public officials ---these many years, thanks in no small part to neglect by The Morning Call, despite their polite one-day nod to the Conservancy report on March 29, 1994. And so much for journalistic integrity and ethics, down the drain with the formerpurity of the Little Lehigh. *

Meanwhile, the Trexler Trust has announced the sale of 90 acres of its property along Tilghman Street and Springhouse Road adjacent to the Allentown Municipal Golf Course to an investors" group planning to build more luxuryhousing in Allentown's West End. Lee A. Butz, president of Alvin H. Butz Inc., had been a partner. The Sale price was $2 million, according to Kathryn Stephanoff, TrexlerFoundation board chair and long-time Allentown Public Library Chief Libraian;. The Little Cedar Creek runs through this property to join Cedar Creek at Cedar Crest and Parkway B oulevards. Cedar Creek joins the Little Lehigh just upstream of the City's water plant intake.

Two other major developments were planned on Trexler land just west and south of the Butz tract. In addition to the impact on Little Cedar Creek, there's the issue of increased traffic on heavily traveled Tilghman Street and the impact onParkland School District once these expensive luxury homes were built and peopled with, in addition to adults from New York and New Jersey, school-age children.

The total price of all three tracts would bring in less than $10 million, a little more than what the Crown American Corporation was willing to pay for only a comparatively small strip of what will now become the Butz development alongSpringhouse Road. If Crown American had been allowed to buy this small portion for their proposed Hess's shopping mall, the Trexler Foundation would have realized much more income and been able to sell the remaining major portion for even more.

In the end, there would have been even more Trexler funding available for the upkeep of the Allentown parks system and protection of the Little Lehigh, the purpose for which the Little Lehigh Parkway was originally designed. With Trexler Park already approaching maximum use by the growing West Endhorde and the Little Lehigh rapidly declining to storm sewer status, Lord knows the City could have used the money.

So much for Trexler's trust

*** A Community built upon strong foundations.***

We ask today what type of community are we creating for ourselves?

Shall our community be like a man or woman who had the sense to build his or her house on rock? The rain came down, the flood rose the wind blew and beat upon the house; but it did not fall, because its foundations were set on rock. Or,shall our community be like the man or woman who was foolish enough to build his or her house on sand? The rain came down, the flood rose, the winds blew, and beat upon that house; down it fell with a great crash.

*** Vision of Allentown***

Fellow citizens, friends ---- Our vision of Allentown and Lehigh County or any community is the former case. The rock is the pursuance of a strong fiscal position in all budget areas. Economic decision-making that will be beneficial over a long term rather then short and both responsive and respective to the public interest or will. Also, the rock being the consensus of shared values embodied in these words: family, work, neighborhood, public safety and freedom.

*** Ideals whose foundations were built on sand**

But it is our feeling that our local leaders whether they be of the Democratic Party or Republican, elected or appointed have pursued ideas these past forty or so years whose foundations were set in sand.

After all, haven't these administrators fallen prey to the siren lure of federal grant programs (whether entitlement or competitive) to the extent that a local dependence has developed relating to the continual receipt of such funds?Unfortunately, such continued flow of federal funds is subject to yearly budgetary decisions and changing regulations in regard to use of funds by decision-makers of various political views in Washington D.C. Consequently, local governments have allowed themselves to become hostages of uncertainbudgetary decisions that would determine the extent of future federal subsidization of local government budgets.

One example being the Gramm - Rudman - Hollings federal deficit reduction legislation of 1985 which sought to trigger automatic administrative cuts in cases where the Congress and the Administration could not agree on how to reach federal deficit-reduction goals.

Yet, the politicians and the bureaucracy that has developed since the mid-fifties on the local level to apply for or administer federal funds have demonstrated a preference to utilize federal funds rather then those raised at the local level for projects and programs they believe are vital and of priority in their communities.

Consequently, any attempt at the federal level to reduce the flow of federal tax dollars to local governments most certainly would receive negative reaction from those who benefit from such subsidies.

Indeed, officials from the City of Allentown and corresponding officials from other Tri-City Conference communities (Bethlehem and Easton) had criticized President Ronald W, Reagan for his program of systematic budget cuts that hadforced local governments in many cases to generate more revenue locally. Allentown during its period of extreme dependence upon federal grant programs actually realized a real and inflationary decline in its tax base.

We ask --- what programs did Allentown devise that would in the long-range successfully halt this trend toward declining tax base?

Of course, the politicians and bureaucracy in true bureaucratic fashion devised programs utilizing federal funds and the partnership of the Allentown government, banking institutions, non-profit community organizations, and themedia to attack the perceived causes of the real and inflationary decline in tax base.

Naturally, not everyone had favored the agenda the city bureaucracy wad following in regard to certain problem areas. Therefore disagreement by citizens in regard to certain programs or procedures was a given fact. Yet there was basis in a concern that the bureaucracy was creating its own life and was indeed compromising the good intentions of a proud and self-sufficient people. The fact being that while citizen participation in the decision-making process waspublicly encouraged, it was at the same time challenged by bureaucracy through the manipulation of format and rules pertaining to public meetings.

The new City of Allentown Home Rule Charter of February 13, 1996 does remedy certain abuses in regard to Citizens' right to be heard at City Council meetings. The Charter provides that Council must provide reasonable opportunity for interested citizens and taxpayers to address the Council onmatters of general or special concern. Citizens' now have the right to be heard as the first order of business at all public meetings before a vote on any Council business occurs. In the past Citizens had to wait to the wee hours of the morning to be heard on non agenda items In the past, many citizens because the length of the meeting chose to go home rather then stay to speak.

Surely, it is a house built on foundations of sand that depends on the uncertain nature of federal tax dollars as a remedy to solve its substantial problems. And additionally, it is an act of moral irresponsibility for a public official to hide fromthe taxpayer the real cost of providing municipal services by funding wages and salaries of fire fighters from a federal line item.

As it happened, when ever a federal line item disappeared from the federal budget and became unavailable to the municipality, the Daddona Administration in Allentown was forced to return the cost of firefighter wages and salaries to the main City Budget and the taxpayer was hit by additional levies on his or her real estate tax.

Interestingly, the Daddona Administration never again raised the millage on the property tax. What it did instead was to increase fees on items such as Garbage Collection, and Water and Sewer. And the successor Heydt Administration had alsoadopted this methodology.

What did Shakespeare say about a rose?

*** Why dwell on the past?***

Why dwell on the past? We do so to remember the mistakes of the past so as to avoid them in the future. Remember: Two fates vast embrace us, time and space. The decisions of the past (sometimes made in the course of failing torecognize then current reality) do effect the course of the future; and if we wish to avoid doing damage to the next generation we must make the proper decisions today.

*** *** ***

We find the essay by Steve Brubaker of the Grace E.C. Church of Lancaster Pennsylvania very inspirational in bringing the problems and needs of cities inproper focus:

CAN ANYTHING GOOD COME FROM THE CITY?

When we think of the city, many images come to mind. The city is pictured as "bustling", "active", "impersonal", and even "scary" by those who live outside.

Our urban areas seem most obvious by their inclusion in the nightly news: riots, racial fights, murders, congestion, smog, and other details seemingly dominate life for city dwellers. Yet, "urban life (also presents) a dazzling (array) of contrasts. ...Cities are symbols of human vigor, creativity, and vitality. There is a constant exchange of energy and ideas, a continuous interplay of thought and communication in urban centers. The city pulsates with people on the move. Its diversity presents a colorful and fascinating picture of the riches of humanity." (1)

The city also depicts brokenness. The incidence of violence builds an atmosphere of mistrust and apprehension. Living in close proximity to other people and traffic noise promotes anxiety. Poverty from unemployment prohibits the establishment of self-worth through work. The pursuit of alcohol and drugs establishes a persistent underculture, subsisting by deviant means. Physical and sexual assault have destroyed the emotional stability of many, particularly children. The positive influence traditionally derived from intactfamilies, involved fathers, pro-active schools and the church, has decreased to a great extent.

Sadly, the influence of Christians in the cities of our world has diminished. Often Christians in urban areas have become most obvious by their absence. Yet, God has a heart for the city because He has a desire that all people would cometo know Him through His Son Jesus.

Practically, the illustration of light seems appropriate in this context. Jesus is the "light of the world"; we are to "reflect His light" to a world that's lost to darkness. When we think of those who know nothing of God, or of those who have a distorted understanding of who He is, we cannot and should not be surprised at the depths of their baseness. Paul wrote that the "god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God." In any city, man's benttoward sin seems obvious. As we see these clear examples of man living apart from God in the neighborhoods of our cities, our reaction as Christians will dictate how we choose to involve ourselves with our neighbors. Key to any effort of ministry is an awareness that sin doesn't reside only "in the city" or "in the suburbs" or "in Russia" or in Washington, D.C." but in the hearts of all men and women. You and I lived for a time estranged from God, lost in the abyss of our sin. We needed to find the Jesus who died for us "while we were yetsinners", His forgiveness, a relationship with God who made us, and the power to live for Him daily.

Yes, in the city there are families headed by single females, there are corner drug deals and crime, and there are noise, violence, and apathy. Yet it seems that God can be most evident where our needs are most apparent. God is usingChristians in the city now! Just as a small, green shoot finds its way through concrete over time, so God is motivating beauty to appear in the city.

Jesus said to His disciples: "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth."

So what can we do as we think of the need to be involved with God's work in the "Jerusalem" around us? First, we must pray. We must see the city with God's eyes and heart. Second, we must educate ourselves and learn what'sgoing on in the city. Who lives there? What happens there? How has it changed over the years? Who is ministering there now? Third, we must consider moving to the city to be light. As a Missionary immerses him/herself in another culture,so must the inner city worker. Fourth, we must find ways in which to meaningfully share the gospel with city inhabitants. Frankly, many in the city view the church and Christians as irrelevant to the nitty-gritty issues of real life. In meeting real needs in tangible ways, obvious physical and emotional needscannot be ignored. As Jesus ministered to the whole person, so must we. As Jesus shared in the city, change will occur! How can we become a part of God's work in the city?

(1) See Ellison and Maynard, Healing for the City, p. 13.

*** The role of neighborhoods***

What is the role of neighborhoods in the future that we suspect will be different yet beyond us to know its exact definitions?

The neighborhoods must and shall be the focal point on which the foundations of all Lehigh Valley communities should be set in rock. The needs or identifiedproblems of neighborhoods can not be disregarded or else cracks would develop that might weaken the secured foundations of not only the community the neighborhood comprised part of but also the entire region as well.

Allentown is a community that in this age of planned economic development and unwanted industrial abandonment has weathered certain difficulties. The City's rock foundations have been shaken by forces that have proven to bedifficult to control. Remarkably, this rock foundation still stands after many shocks but serious cracks do appear in its foundations and if not corrected may breakdown into sand.

What must be done to ensure that the foundations of Allentown remain firmly set in rock? The answer is simple. The citizenry must be ever watchful for faults and cracks that begin tearing down or ripping apart the foundations set in rock; and public officials must be wise and quick in making necessary seals and repairs, ever mindful of the fact that, short-term solutions top any problem will lead to larger costs later on and that work that is inadequate must be redone.

*** Who is to be faulted***

The election of Ronald Wilson Reagan as the 40th United States President in 1980 and his resounding re-election in 1984 should cast a signal to local authorities that the days of local government dependence upon federal government for quick money for community projects had peaked if not over.The city of Allentown and other regional political units, both in Democratic and Republican Administrations, had depended upon Washington time and again to finance programs and studies, which in most cases may not have been doneotherwise. But what happens when the federal government ends a program or the commission for the program expires? The answer is simple --- If the programwas to continue it must be supported by local taxation efforts; thus, we see the real potential for an additional burden for the local taxpayer.

Historically, Allentown Mayor Joseph S. Daddona like other politicos sought to transfer political accountability or blame (in vicious terms) for his `1987 tax increase decision-making on the broad shoulders of President Reagan and the 99th Congress.

Politically --- who is to be faulted? The federal government for its siren lure of revenue enticements which entraps local government or local government for its eagerness to fall prey to the bait of revenue enticements in order to expandits local bureaucracy but yet at the same time avoid or delay local monetary accountability for the resultant expansion of local budgets.

Whatever the reason, whenever local government goes to the federal government for funds it gives up some of its powers of decision-making and therefore, it lessens its control over its own situation and fate.

One may ask whether the decision-making in regard to the construction of Kline's Island would have been less short-sighted had it not been particularly predicated on the maximum funding the federal government allocated for theproject; and also, one may ask whether the policy of attrition of personnel in departments and bureaus such as police, fire, street cleaning, parks and recreation in the first Daddona Administration would have been pursued hadnot there been the pull of the federally funded Comprehensive Employment Training Act (CETA) program.

The bottom line is that while the flux of federal money in a community can have benefit, harm can also be done. Communities in seeking what ever federal grants that remain or are available should only go to the federal government forhelp when there is a definite need that the local community can not do itself; and this need should not be predicated solely on the basis that federal grant money is available.

Hard as it may seem, local authorities should not be horrified over the prospect of complete cutbacks in revenue sharing or in reduced federal funding for community public work projects. Rather, they should take stock and reflect howtheir past actions of pursuing federal; or state grant money with eyes that had no thought for anything but securing for themselves temporary political gains has weakened the rock foundations that communities like Allentown and theLehigh Valley were initially built upon.

It being suggested that should the 100th U.S. Congress or future Congress's pursue a sudden or gradual reversal of the 98th and 99th Congress's legislative push toward reduced federal subsidization of projects and programs at thelocal level, it is our hope that local government units would exercise self-control, restraint and common sense in seeking available federal and state funds.

*** Heydt inherits the heat***

My colleague, Gordon D. Sharp Jr wrote the following article which appeared in Volume 13 # 1 --- April 9, 1994 --- edition of the Lehigh Valley Common Sense Herald:

"Allentown's new mayor, William Heydt, "didn't start the fire," as singer-songwriter Billy Joel might say, but he's beginning to feel the heat generated by 20 years of his predecessor's mismanagement. Mayor Heydt's biggest hot potato at the moment is the huge sinkhole that started to swallow the Corporate Plaza Building just north of Center Square on North Seventh Street in the early morning hours of February 23, 1994. The hottest potato however, belongs to theformer administration of Joseph S. Daddona, during which Corporate Plaza was constructed. Daddona was conspicuously absent from the disaster site throughout, despite the rich photo opportunities.

"Do you think it should have been built in the first place?" asked a reporter from KYW-TV Channel 3, Philadelphia, conducting man-on-the-street interviews at Sixth and Linden three days after the disaster. The answer to that question ispainfully obvious in the pile of junk lying in the center of North Seventh Street. It was more of a question than anything asked by the local media, most notably the Morning Call, in the years since the Corporate Plaza building went up in thelate 1980s right until the present day. A Morning Call letter writer suggested that the junkpile be left where it is rather then cleaned up. The twisted girders and masonry debris blocking Seventh Street could serve as a permanent monumentto 20 years of redevelopment mismanagement and Morning Call silence on the peculiar way redevelopment has been done by City Hall administrations in Allentown. For example, the existence of a limestone base full of sinkholes hasbeen long known in the Lehigh Valley. But Corporate Plaza foundations weren't built to bedrock as the foundations of the Pennsylvania Power and Light Co. tower two blocks away were some sixty years ago, and other downtown structures since.

It's an equally peculiar irony that the Corporate Plaza now bears an eerie resemblance to another victim of Daddona administration management skills, the General Harry C. Trexler Memorial Park greenhouse, demolished in 1985 justas Corporate Plaza was under construction. The mangled metal, shattered glass and masonry of the greenhouse were on a smaller scale, but similar in portent, for similar (political) reasons.

The scale of the next development disaster in Allentown is impossible to judge at this point, but redevelopment authorities seem determined to press on with the pattern. The next phase is the proposed Century Plaza office complexplanned for the east side of Seventh Street directly across from what was Corporate Plaza. The aging buildings on the site were also affected by the same sinkhole and are now piles of rubble, too. If Century Plaza is to stand longerthan the eight years of Corporate Plaza, the ultimate developer will have to put a lot more money into bedrock foundations than was put into Corporate Plaza, unless the Allentown Economic Development Commission wants to courtanother disaster. One of the surprises revealed by the Corporate Plaza collapse was the fact that Allentown, not alone among Lehigh Valley municipalities, has no ordinance requiring bedrock foundations in sinkhole territory; this despite the further fact that the Joint Planning Commission of the Lehigh-Northampton Counties came up with a model ordinance six years ago that would avoid such development disgraces. The lack of ordinances all too often serves as anexcuse for city officials and developers to avoid common sense. Allentown should adopt and enforce such an ordinance before another office high-rise goes up downtown.

Another aspect the city might address is building design. The very design of the Corporate Plaza structure may have served as a contributory factor in its demise; in addition to the lack of deep bedrock foundations, six of its seven stories were cantilevered out over the Seventh Street sidewalk directly above the sinkhole. The cantilevered portion was supported by what appeared to be four sturdy brick pillars; "appeared to be," because as the building sagged and masonry broke away from the "pillars," the bricks were revealed as little morethan cosmetic covering around only four slim single steel girders, all that supported that side of the building.

That's the kind of planning wisdom that should be avoided in the future. Another kind of planning wisdom that should be avoided is the virtual obsession of city development officials for defining progress in narrow terms of building more and more unfillable office space in midtown. The $9.5 million Corporate Plaza, supposedly "the key to a center city renaissance," was largely vacant until comparatively recently when government agencies such as the Allentown Parking Authority and State Police and others as friendly to City Hallwere moved in. The latter included the firm of Former City solicitor Thomas Anewalt, also former campaign manager for former mayor Joseph S. Daddona, under whose regime Corporate Plaza went up.

Corporate Plaza might have been the biggest embarrassment for the long- running Daddona administration, but fortunately for Daddona and company the disaster occurred three months after he left office, falling instead on his successor, mayor William Heydt. If Daddona hadn't run for a third term in 1985,the disaster may not have happened at all. Hopefully Heydt will have the wisdom to avoid the pitfalls, literally and figuratively, of downtown development into which the previous administration led him and the city. Unfortunately, Heydt seems headed into the same tunnel vision by retaining the same director of development, Donald Bernhard, who apparently slept as watchdog on Corporate Plaza. But so did The Morning Call. In all the years of the Daddona Administration, The Call failed to question downtown development practices either in editorials or news articles one-tenth as much as The Common Sense Herald. That's one reason Corporate Plaza ultimately came down. In a sense,what happened there in the early morning hours of February 23, 1994 is a microcosm of what happened to Allentown during the past two decades. There has been little "progress" and much lost in that time. And much remains to be lost if past and present patterns continue.

The tenants who were forced out of Corporate Plaza and other nearby buildings aren't the only victims of this debacle; in a sense, the whole city of Allentown, all its citizens, are victims of bad planning and lack of foresight on the part of cityofficials who should have known better, but didn't. The costs in terms of lost tax revenues, lost business, lost futures, to say nothing of the mere cost of cleaning up the aftermath of the collapse, run into millions and, in great part, areultimately incalculable. Yet The Morning Call and the Downtown Improvement District almost buried these very legitimate human concerns, except for anarticle here and there and a Red Cross donation, by whipping up a bread-and- circuses atmosphere attendant on the dynamiting of this showpiece of the downtown renaissance. Very clever, but it won't mean anything if the samedevelopment patterns continue. ("All together now, a-one, a-two, a-three. Wunnafull, Wunnafull! Wunnafull") Continued drum-beating by The Call, DIDA or AEDC for the same kind of office building ratables won't make up for the declinethey spell for Center City. Hopefully the Corporate Plaza building in its brief lifetime paid more in taxes than it will cost to clean up, but so far we haven't seen any numbers on it from The Morning Call, and we're not going to do theirhomework for them. One thing is certain --- there's no sense in building further office buildings over center city sinkholes just so DIDA can eventually sell tickets to their dynamite demolition. But in this town, don't take any bets on it.

Whatever the long-term costs to the business people and residents affected by the tragic end of Corporate Plaza, immediate estimates for the cleanup hover in the $2 million area. These include over a million for demolition of nearbybuildings also damaged by the sinkhole, two of which were set for demolition anyway as the Century Plaza site, and restoration of utilities. Mayor Heydt is turning to state legislators for help, which ultimately means taxpayers' money.

The taxpayers' money in the form of a $1.5 million Urban Development Action Grant (UDAG) has gone down the drain with a building that may not have been properly constructed. David Novosat, identified in The Morning Call on February24 as chief building inspector when Corporate Plaza was planned, predicted the building would stand. : " I'm rooting for the building," Novosat was quoted as saying. Shortly before the plunger was pushed, the north side separated fromthe rest of the building and crumbled to the ground. Novosat was named fire chief by then mayor Daddona when former Chief Ernie Toth now a city councilman, retired several years ago,

State Representative Charles Dent, R-132nd District, responded enthusiastically when Mayor Heydt appealed for state aid to help pay cleanup costs for Corporate Plaza. Details remained to be hammered out, but Dent predicted thestate contribution would be "considerable" (Morning Call, March 25, 1994, p. A9). This raises a perfectly legitimate Question: why should Pennsylvania taxpayers foot the bill for possible incompetence, malfeasance, nonfeasance ormisfeasance on the part of public officials possibly responsible for the Corporate Plaza collapse? Proper measures could (and quite probably should) have been taken to prevent what some may call an "act of God," but as in manythings, God really isn't to blame for a lack of proper foundations, however more expensive their installation might have been. Reportedly, both the State Houseand Senate are mulling bills to fund a "sinkhole damage assistance program." This action, whatever its good intentions, will effectively lock in the taxpayer asthe final payer for disasters over which he has no control, but which may largely be due to preventable human error on the part of public and private officials. Presumably hearings will be held on these bills before a vote. Rep. Dent, meanwhile, along with his legislative colleagues, might consider hearings into the Corporate Plaza disaster and legislation requiring test borings and proper (not merely "adequate") foundations for high-rise buildings. The developer, after all, apparently stretched the outer limits of the parameters on the CorporatePlaza building in avoiding bedrock foundations, And except for the grace of God, the collapse might have come at a later hour when occupants were at their regular posts inside the building, leading to possible injury or even loss of life.

Our elected legislators might try showing as much interest in saving taxpayers' money by preventing future Corporate Plazas as they do in making the taxpayers pay for it after the disaster. If Mayor Heydt and our area legislators allow the present development practices to continue, they may not have started the fire, but they would certainly be feeding it.

*** Seeking wisdom and understanding***

Let this writer's appeal for justice in decision-making serve as a guide that all public officials should practice.

In a Presentation made before Lehigh County Commissioners February 20,1982 ... Presentation meant to be aid to Commissioners in deciding a wastewater treatment issue that was still pending as most of this study was put together in its earlier form.)

" Faced with an upcoming proposal from the County Executive (David Bausch) in regard to the complex wastewater issue, the County Commissioners perhaps, seek wisdom and understanding as a guide toward making a responsible decision,

The importance of this upcoming vote may not be lost upon the Commissioners, and each County commissioner may be apprehensive in regards to what solid base of knowledge he or she possesses concerning the issue. Being proud and self-willed, few of the Commissioners will publicly acknowledge the important fact that the issue will overwhelm them spiritually,emotionally, and intellectually. Most of them will depend on what the Office of the County Executive will tell them, or what its present Engineering Consultant James M. Montgomery or their colleagues might say concerning the issue,never questioning the nature or reference point from which each individual expresses his or her opinion.

The Commissioners do offer opportunity to the public to give their insights ...But do they listen? And, why do they protect their consultants from the difficult questions of the public? Are consultants always right and the public alwaysuneducated and naive on any question? Is the practice of allowing the public to speak just a formality for the historic record and a government illusion of its concern for the average citizen when government actually represents a fewindustrial organizations and their wealth-seeking clients?

Where then does the Commissioners collective wisdom come from and where is their source of understanding? If their wisdom comes from the words of man via the accumulation of knowledge derived from the sum total of man's economic, social, political and religious institutions, this still might not beadequate if they failed to consolidate this knowledge through personal experience and inner meditation with God. If their understanding comes from enjoying the ways of the world and its tendency toward eliciting false truths and selfishness, then the Commissioners can not comprehend understandingeither. For the fear of the Lord is wisdom and to turn away from evil is understanding.

What we know about the wastewater treatment issue is that it was brought about by the drive for economic development that possessed all municipalities within the Metropolitan Wastewater Treatment District for greater part of twenty-five or so years. Whether Arthur L. Wiesenberger was the prime mover in this concerted action or the opportunist is a subject that should be studied. But we do know what environmental consequences Wiesenberger's numerous ill-designed projects wreaked havoc to the Lehigh Valley for the sake of future economic development.

Yes, jobs are important for the economic well being of the Lehigh Valley. But if we destroy and misuse what God has lovingly blessed us with, then we should not be proud of what economic development accomplishments we achieve.Instead of producing a utopian situation, we will set the stage for future economic abandonment when the excellent soil, water, and air conditions God has blessed us with are spoiled beyond agricultural, recreational, and industrial usefulness.

Within the past year I have been quoted as calling for a Community constructed on foundations set in rock. Well, the only way this community can come about in both Allentown and Lehigh Valley is if our elected government leadersrenounce the practices, influences, and contacts that produced the wastewater issue in the first place and begin new directions."

(Please note --- in this endeavor, our elected leaders can be successful if theypursue their "New Directions" guided by eternal principles set in strong unbreakable foundations. We can only hope that the proposed construction of a Lehigh County Sewage Pre-treatment facility on a 56.42 acre tract of cultivated land located in the southeast corner of the intersection of Pennsylvania 100 and Snowdrift Road in the township of Upper Macungie, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania was guided by such principles. This proposed pre-treatmentplant, then in design stage, .was planned as a replacement facility to a former Lehigh County Authority Sewage Pre-Treatment Plant designed by Arthur L. Wiesenberger that failed. We can add that both the former pre-treatment facilityand the newer pre-treatment facility have been designed and is currently designed to provide initial treatment of the wastes from certain industrial plants located in western Lehigh County ---- primarily the Stroh Brewery and the KraftCheese Plant. But a colleague of mine, Harry Forker has asserted that a full- treatment facility serving these industries would have been more cost-effective and more practical for the long-range interest of Lehigh County.